Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-01
ENEMIES OF LABOR"
Honesty of Service aud F'lel.
ity to Obligation AID Trus'-TWO
Instances in New York.
Does {" Organized Labor" Ever Become
Organized Robbery, and is this the
Cause of Opposition to 1t?
New York Times,

II Is lmDOSslDIS 10 preserve the realty
and it is absurd to maintain the pretense
Of respect for a trades union which
makes honesty and efficiency in its mem
bers punishable Offenses, and uses its
power to punish them. Yet this is pre-
cisely what has been done by the local
assembly of the knights Of Labor in this
city TO which the shoemakers belong.
We have already more fhan OICe
given the facts of the case Of Hartt.
Hartt Was discharged from a place
as foreman simply because he had
detected a workman in the act Of
cheating his employers by means OF false
acc UNITS, had exposed him, and had pro-
cured his discharge. This version Of tie
story has never been C0ntradiCted. III in
sisting upon the discharge OF Hartt from
his empl oymept and II procuring his dis
charge from another situation which he
had obtained the Knights of Labor have
simply been protecting and rewarding q
thief, instead Of turning him out of their
order as 3 decent trades union would
have done as soon as his rascality was
proved.
So much for the view taken of common
honesty by the order which Cardinal Glib
body, active membership in which ought
not to subject the member TO any dis
cipline by the church. The unfavOrable
view taken by the order of q competent
workman, simply because he is compe-
tent, is equally curious and instructive.
1t seems that the Knights had
fixed upon 325 pairs OF shoes as the
maximum which one cutter ought to
! be allowed to cut in one week, working
ten hours day, whereas it is about half
| of the amount of work that can be done
! by an expert in the time. One Breiten-
stein was such an expert, and he found
! it impossible to occupy his working time
with so few pairs of shoes as the Knights
of Labor permitted him to cut. In spite
of his conscientious endeavors to be
! idle he found at the end Of the
week that he had cut some 400
pairs instead of the 325 pairs
that were allowed him by the regulations
on the one hand, or the GOO pairs that he
could and would have cut if he had been
| left to himself on the other, ThereupOn
he was actually fined by his local
assembly for being treasonably and
rebelliously industrious. There can be
no mistake about it. The bill that
was sent TO him sets forth that he
is fined for doing too much work"
Ag4in he tried to conform to the regulation,
and found it so difficult that he applied to
his employer for leave to go home after
he had finished the daily "stint" allowed
! him by his ftIloW-craftsmen This was
refused upon the ground that it would
create discomfort among the other work
men, that is to say, among the shirks and
| bunglers who insisted that he should take
all DAY to do half days work. He again
applied himself TO shirkiug, but with only
partial success, for at the end of the
week he had again exceeded his allow
anCe. This time the assembly was so
angry with him for his ContumaCy that it
added q fine of S25 to his previous fine of
| S 10, refused his offer to pay the fine in
instsllments, inasmuch as he had not
money enough to pay it all at once, and
bulied the firm into discharging him for
the sole reason that he was too efficient
workman.
1t is perhaps not worth while to inquire
into the workings of what the authorities
of this local assembly call their minds.
They probably went upon the assumption
that if one expert were prevented from
working up to more than half his capacity
there would be work for two incapables.
The whole tendency, not merely
of such brigands as the Knights
of Labor, but Of the respectable
trades unions, is to assume that man
working at trade for wages will always
be in the position of worker for wages,
and that the objects to be sought are that
he shall do as little work and get as high
wages as possible. To men bent upon
! this obi ct the exceptionally skiilful and
energetic workman IS an obstacle and an
enemy. He is willing to work harder
| than his fellows for the sake Of earning
higher wages. Sometimes, as in the case
of this shoe cutter, he IS as valuable
as two of the average workmen. He
actually earns twice their wages, or as
they might put it, tax s the bread out of
two mems mouths. He is the man who,
if he IS let alone, is sure to rise, and can
make better bargain for himself than
any trades union can make for him. a
trades union in which the dull and the lazy
overwhelm him by brute force of num-
bers does nothi q for him, and what it
does for the majority ls done at his ex-
pense.
In the present case Breitenstein would
not have suffered for his efficiency, as
! Hartt in the other case would not have
suffered for his honesty, if the demands
of the union had not been seconded by
the cOwardice of the employers. If the
shoe manufacturers had the courage TO
stand up for their own rights and the
rights of faithful and skilltul wOrkmen,
to the extent of q temporary loss
of money, or even temporary
stoppage OF their works, these outrage
Gus demands could not be enforced.
They would in a short time find then
selves able to resist dictatiOn, to make
distinctions among their workmen, to pay
the skillful and the industrious as much
as they earned and the unskillful and lazy
no more than they earned. Between the
unsmbitious craftsmen and the cowardly
employers the craftsmen who are able
and willing to work have hard time, and
1t is not made easier if they are told that
! they ere enemies TO GlahOru